Kolea stories are popping up all over because our favorite bird is taking off for Alaska. Bill Riddle in Kane'ohe gets the prize for reporting the first departure, last Monday morning, eight days earlier than his kolea departed last year.

That squares with my kolea count behind Kaimuki High School, where the count this year started to go down last Tuesday. The normal departure date is supposed to be about April 25. But I'm beginning to wonder if that date has much meaning. My count in 2003 shows that the birds started leaving around April 10, while the count behind Kaimuki High School held steady last year up to April 26.

Riddle has a kolea story worth telling. His kolea is a brown adolescent that arrived in his yard last year. Riddle called her (or him) Pat. Riddle tempted Pat with worms until the bird ate out of his hand. Riddle taught Pat to come up on the lanai and eat worms from his lap.

After a while, Pat would eat out of anybody's hand. When Riddle overslept, Pat would walk in through the front door. The Riddles have a friendly dog that gets along fine with Pat.

When Pat returned from Alaska last year, Riddle said the bird landed on his roof and was so thin and exhausted that it wouldn't come down until he put out some tempting worms. By the next day, Pat had recuperated and was full of vinegar again.

Here's my kolea story for this year. About a week ago, I spotted what I think is a female kolea with a limp behind Ala Wai Elementary School. It was her first appearance. I called her Limpy. On Monday, I noticed that she was sitting on the grass as if on a nest.

I waited under a palm tree to see how long she would sit there. Fifteen minutes later, she got up and began to hunt for bugs. I went to it to see if she had laid an egg. There was no egg, but I found a lump of white coral in the grass that sort of resembled an egg.

Lots of people ask where kolea congregate to take off for Alaska. An e-mail from Marion describes three departures. Each time, the kolea massed in groups of 30 to 50 birds before taking off together. The departures took place on April 22, 1993, at Kualoa, on April 12, 1997, at a public school in Waimanalo, and on April 26, 1995, at Punchbowl.

Another frequently asked question is how do you tell a male from a female kolea when they are in plumage? According to Wally Johnson, the kolea expert at Montana State University, both males and females put on black-and-white tuxedos before leaving for Alaska.

But the male's costume is better defined, the black and white in sharp contrast. Females are more variable, from a drab black and white to brown.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.